1. Field of the Invention
This patent relates to a corner post not of the typical tubular type to be used to cushion and protect packaged articles, such as furniture or large appliances. More particularly, this patent relates to an improved non-tubular type corner post configured into a wave pattern.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional tubular type corner posts are made by cutting the paper to a desired length, then applying adhesive to the paper, and winding the coated paper around a mandrel to form one or more cylindrical tubes having a substantially circular cross-section, sliding the wound paper tubes onto a forming tool while the tubes are still malleable, forming the tubes into a desired shape, and allowing the adhesive between the paper layers to set up and form the finished product.
Gardner U.S. Pat. No. 4,483,444 discloses a corner post having a cross-sectional profile that accommodates overhang of the post relative to a bottom board without substantially reducing the resistance of the post to compressive forces. This tubular type corner post has a cross-sectional profile that is constant along the height of the post.
Hughes U.S. Pat. No. 5,267,651 discloses a corner post having laterally directed stiffening beads extending at an acute angle into free engagement with the opposite wall. When subjected to sufficient lateral force, the beads collapse onto themselves forming intermediate layers between the inner and outer walls.
Qiu et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,186,329, discloses a laminated corner post made from multiple sheets of paper. Like all prior art corner posts described above, the Qiu corner post has an inner and outer wall surface.
While each of these prior art corner posts are useful for their particular purpose, none have a wave pattern configuration, which substantially increases the top to bottom compression strength with a lesser amount of fiber being used. In addition, none have the high level of flexibility to change the paper grades or leg widths that this new wave design has. This configuration does not use the standard tubular design, which provides it with a higher level of flexibility in adjusting leg lengths without additional mandrels or any other special set-up tooling.
Thus, it is an objective of the present invention to provide a laminated corner post having this wave pattern for creating a substantial increase in compression strength, the flexibility of changing paper grades and a simpler way to change leg lengths.